Archive for February, 2009

The major collection this week includes 10 new databases from Genealogical Publishing Company that feature birth, marriage, and death records along with stories and histories. Read descriptions of the databases below:
View all recently added databases.

This indispensable and comprehensive reference work is offered in a convenient one-volume form. It contains extensive biographical and genealogical data on every family established in Maine and New Hampshire before 1699. Listed are the births, marriages, and deaths of the settlers through the third generation, and sometimes into the fourth. Entries may include data on places of origin, residences, wills and deeds, court cases, and highlights of lives and careers.

Compiled and edited by Donald Lines Jacobus for the Eunice Dennie Burr chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1930 (Volume I) and 1932 (Volume II). It was originally published in Fairfield, Connecticut and reprinted in 1976 by the Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. of Baltimore with “Additions and Corrections” dating from 1943.

Compiled and edited by Donald Lines Jacobus (1930-1932, 1943). Jacobus’s Families of Old Fairfield is the ultimate authority on the ancestry and relationships of approximately 50,000 residents of Fairfield County, Connecticut. It is a vast compendium of family history, meticulously developed from original sources, and is in every way an accurate reflection of the investigative genius of its celebrated author. As genealogies go, it is a perfect model. Each family history commences with the original 17th-century settler and is brought down, in most cases, to the early decades of the 19th century. The accumulated data is further enhanced by abstracts of land and probate records, the effect of which is to add still more weight to the already overwhelming evidence. Throughout, families are arranged in alphabetical order. Children are carried forward as heads of families in leap-frog fashion, and everyone mentioned whose name does not occur in normal sequence under the appropriate family history is identified in the index. Wherever possible, women are indexed under their maiden names.

Allegheny County, in southwestern Pennsylvania, was for many years a staging area of westward migration. Thousands of early pioneers passed through it and thousands more stayed. Representatives of many of these early settlers, perhaps the majority, are immortalized in this work in genealogical and biographical sketches. The sketches, numbering approximately 2,250 and naming a total of 50,000 related persons, generally treat subjects who were born in the early nineteenth century, with reference to immediate forebears of the late eighteenth century. The sketches typically mention the date and place of birth and marriage of the principal subject, the place of birth of his parents and often grandparents, sometimes the name of the first ancestor in America, and details of religion, education, military service, occupation, home, and residence. This publication is excerpted from Part II of the History of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, constituting the entire genealogical and biographical section of that work, i.e. pages 209-786. As the index references correspond to the pages in the original, those page numbers have been retained in the reprint.

This is the fourth volume of a multi-volume work on Virginia genealogies consisting of material from Tyler’s Quarterly Historical and Genealogical Magazine, a notable periodical that contained a large number of genealogies that will be of help to the researcher. The four-volume set as all of the family history articles, about 350, that appeared in the magazine from its inception in 1919 until its demise in 1952. This is a significant body of genealogical material, and many of the contributors were leading Virginia researchers. For convenience the articles are arranged in a single alphabetical sequence. Since each volume has its own index, genealogists need only consult the particular volume required for their research. For a complete list of the contents write the publisher.

This publication furnishes current information on no fewer than 147 lineage organizations, their officers, and other members. In this sense it is both an annual Who’s Who among lineage society members and a guidebook for learning about the purpose of each organization and how to contact it. For each organization listed the author gives the name of the society, date of founding, requirements for membership, a mailing address and, where available, the phone number. In the majority of cases, Mr. Davenport also provides some historical background on the society, number of current members, and an illustration of the society’s insignia. The Who’s Who section lists over three hundred prominent living members of lineage societies, along with their spouses, addresses and phone numbers, and as many as ten hereditary societies of membership.

In all genealogical work the first and most important step is to establish the geographical origin of the ancestor. In Irish research the genealogist may know the name of the county where the ancestor lived but be puzzled about a place name given as the place of birth or residence. In all probability the place-name is that of a townland, the smallest territorial subdivision in Ireland. Since research in Ireland will usually start at the parish level, there must be a reference tool that will key the townland to the parish in which it is located. This work was prepared under the auspices of the British government for almost that purpose. The over 900 densely printed pages show the county, barony, parish, and poor law union in which the 70,000 townlands were situated in 1851, as well as the location of the townlands on the Great Ordnance Survey maps, with appendixes containing separate indexes to parishes and baronies.

Part 1 includes the following information: 1. Names of the Presidents, Vice-Presidents, Secretaries of War, and Commanding Generals of the Army, showing when and where each was born, exact period of service, and date and place of death. 2. List of general officers of the United States Army and of the United States Volunteers from June 1775 to 1903, arranged according to grade and rank, with period of service of each. 3. Complete chronological roster of chiefs of bureaus or staff corps, field and staff officers of the line (artillery, cavalry, dragoons, infantry, the legion, rangers, riflemen, sea fencibles, and voltigeurs), showing the acts of Congress under which each regiment or organization was created, with dates of consolidation, disbandment, etc. 4. Names of officers of the Army who have by name been thanked or presented with medals or swords by Congress since the organization of the Army in 1789. 5. Tables showing promotion of graduates of the United States Military Academy, and numbers in each class.

Part 2 includes: Complete alphabetical list of commissioned officers of the Army, including officers of the volunteer staff and brevet major or brigadier-generals of volunteers, from the organization of the Army, September 29, 1789, to March 2, 1903. It gives their full names and shows services as cadets and all services as officers or enlisted men, either in the regular or volunteer service. It also gives all brevet appointments, medals of honor awarded, and for what service conferred, Plus, it provides all cases in which thanks, swords, or medals have been awarded by Congress; all of said officers who joined the Confederate Army in the civil war, and the highest rank attained therein by each. Also look for the date of death of about 9,000 officers who died after leaving the United States service.

Part 3 includes: 1. Alphabetical list of officers of the Regular Army killed, wounded, or taken prisoner in action since 1789. 2. Alphabetical list of officers of volunteer regiments during the war with Mexico, 1846-1848. 3. Alphabetical list of field officers of volunteers and militia in the service of the United States during the Civil War, 186-1865. 4. Alphabetical list of captains of light batteries in the volunteer service during the Civil War, 1861-1865. 5. Alphabetical list of general officers of the United States Army and the Confederate States Army killed or died of wounds during the Civil War, 1861-1865. 6. Alphabetical list of general officers of the Confederate Army, 1861-1865. 7. Alphabetical list of officers who left the United States Army after November 1, 1860, and joined the Confederate service. 8. Alphabetical list of officers of volunteer organizations during the war with Spain and Philippine insurrection, 1898 to 1902, and alphabetical list of contract surgeons in service, 1898 to 1903. 9. Strength of the losses in battle, etc., during the following wars: War of the Evolution, 1775-1783; Indian wars, 1790-1795; war with Northwest Indians, 1811-1813; war with Great Britain, 1812-1815; Seminole war, 1817-1818; Black Hawk war, 1831-1832; Seminole war, 1835-1842; war with Mexico, 1846-1848; Civil War, or War of the Rebellion, 1861-1865; war with Spain and insurrection in the Philippines, 1898-1902, and insurrection in China, 1900-1901. 10. Alphabetical and chronological list of wars, campaigns, battles, skirmishes, military events, etc., 1775-1902. 11. Alphabetical list of forts, reservations, blockhouses, named camps, National and State Homes for soldiers, national cemeteries, etc., in the United States from its earliest settlement to date. 12. Compilation of tables illustrative of the (most important changes in the) organization of the Army of the United States from 1789 to 1902, and actual strength (annually) at stated periods since 1789.

This Supplement to Genealogies in the Library of Congress lists all genealogies in the Library of Congress that were catalogued between 1972 and 1976, showing acquisitions made by the Library in the five years since publication of the original two-volume Bibliography. Arranged alphabetically by family name, it adds several thousand works to the canon, clinching the Bibliography’s position as the premier finding-aid in genealogy.

Like the original two-volume work the Supplement is a guide to genealogical monographs that can be found in the Library of Congress and other libraries. It is also a guide to the Library’s own index to genealogies in sources not primarily genealogical in nature and a guide to the unique collection of non-printed genealogies held by the Library, other than those in its Manuscript Division. Its unique listing of genealogies is achieved by placing together family names that are pronounced alike, or almost alike, even though there are differences in spelling, providing the researcher with a foolproof look-up method.

“This supplement updates the two-volume set published in 1972. Together the set supersedes the various editions of American and English Genealogies in the Library of Congress and provides over 23,000 genealogical entries and 30,000 cross references. The supplement alone includes 2,798 new entries for books added between 1972 and 1976. The alphabetical arrangement is by family surname for both the bibliographical entries and the cross references. Title, place, publisher, author, and LC card and call numbers are included. Comprehensive and easy to use, this work is a major starting point for identifying and approaching American, English, Canadian, Latin American, European, and Asian genealogical sources.” –Jimmie H. Hoover, American Reference Books Annual 1978

PROVO, Utah, Feb. 25 /PRNewswire/ – FamilyLink.com recently raised $2.85 million in Series B funding as social networking services continue to grow even during difficult economic times. FamilyLink.com raised its initial round of funding of $1.25 million in August 2007.

Several Series A investors joined the Series B funding round, including vSpring Capital and TTP Capital Advisors of Japan. Several other angel investors joined in the B round.

FamilyLink.com is the developer of “We’re Related,” one of the most popular applications on Facebook. We’re Related is used by nearly a million people every day. The company’s flagship social networking site will launch later this quarter at FamilyLink.com.

“Social networking with family and friends is growing faster than any other online activity,” said CEO Paul B. Allen. “Research shows that protecting the family is the top human value in most nations. Technology enables families to keep in touch despite distance, and we think this desire to stay in touch will only deepen in hard economic times.”

FamilyLink.com became profitable in late 2008 as it was finalizing its fund-raising efforts. The company employs 30 people in the United States, including in Seattle, WA, Boulder, CO, and its headquarters in Provo, Utah, and has development offices in India and the Philippines.

The company’s goal is to become the global leader in family social networking on all social networks and mobile platforms. The FamilyLink.com, Inc. network of sites became one of the top 500 Web companies in the world in December 2008, based on Quantcast statistics. Currently the network ranks No. 164 based on total monthly unique visitors, making the company one of the fastest growing Web properties in the world.

Unlike other social networks, FamilyLink uses family
trees and genealogyas a key ingredient in creating engagement in its social networking experience for families. The company owns WorldVitalRecords.com, a popular genealogy subscription site, and later this year will introduce its flagship genealogy website, GenSeek.com.

“We think GenSeek will become the world’s largest gateway to family history content,” explained Steve Nickle, President. “Combined with our family social networks, it will make it easier than ever before for family members to explore and share their heritage with all of their relatives. Our historic partnership with FamilySearch Catalog will enable us to launch GenSeek.com with links to millions of the world’s most valuable genealogy sources.”

About FamilyLink.com, Inc.

FamilyLink.com, Inc. is the leading global social
networking company for families. It was formed in 2006 by original founding executives of Ancestry.com and MyFamily.com. The company operates several genealogy websites and has popular applications on Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Hi5, and Friendster. The company’s We’re Related application is currently the third most popular application on Facebook and has helped users define more than 150 million family relationships. FamilyLink.com, Inc. also operates the AdMazing ad network that represents more than 200 million monthly impressions on high traffic family history and heritage sites. Genealogy partners include Everton, brightsolid, Statute of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Genealogical Publishing Company, FindAGrave.com, Godfrey Memorial Library, and FamilySearch.

For those of you who know where your ancestors were born, where they died, or even where they traveled, try using the browse by country and state features at WorldVitalRecords.com. Currently at WorldVitalRecords.com, you can search data from 39 countries to find information about your ancestors.

Click on the database you wish to view, or type in the information you know (such as given name, places where the individual lived, year, family name, keyword, or matching type: exact, soundex or double metaphone) about the name of the individual you are seeking and click “Search.”

4. Click on the database you wish to view, or type in the information you know (such as given name, places where the individual lived, year, family name, keyword, or matching type: exact, soundex or double metaphone) about the name of the individual you are seeking and click “Search

I have been keeping a daily journal now for 20 years. I have a large box in my house filled with more than 25 journals. These journals are very valuable to me and I am always a little worried that some natural disaster is going to strike here in Orem, Utah, and I am going to lose all of my work.

This may sound a little crazy, but last year, more than 220,000 people were killed in natural disasters. Billions of dollars were spent throughout the world on mitigating the effects of natural disasters. Although some items can be replaced, rebuilt or renewed, many valuables such as photos, books, family heirlooms, journals, birth certificates, passports, religious documents, etc. cannot be easily replaced, and some are completely irreplaceable.

What can you do to protect your valuables? Here are a few ideas

Put your content online. If you have photos, scan them and put them online. If you have books that are meaningful to you, scan them as well and put them online.

Make duplicates. Just in case one of your copies is destroyed by a natural disaster, it is a relief to know that you have an extra copy (even though it may not be the original copy). Duplication also provides protection for computer crashes, accidents, intentional damage, etc. The media life of paper is 100+ years. The media life of microfilm is approximately 500 years. Computer diskettes will last 2-5 years. A CD-ROM generally lasts between 5-50 years.

Create a filing system on your computer containing your valuables. Create a system that allows for quick and easy access. Make sure to clearly label and date your content.

Keep your valuables away from dust, light, and smoke. Be sure to store them in a place with a temperature between 45-65 degrees. Store your master copies and spare copies in different locations.

On Wednesday, MyFamily application on Bebo received a finalist award (in the top 17 out of more than 2,000 applications) at the Bebo B.E.S.T. (Bebo Engage to Succeed Today) Awards Ceremony & Developer Meet Up in San Francisco, California. The purpose of the meeting was to find and reward the most engaging new applications on Bebo.

The Bebo version of the MyFamily application was added to oBebo in February 2008. It allows individuals to create stick figure representations of their families for display on their profiles. To download the MyFamily application on Bebo, click here or go to: http://apps.bebo.com/myfamily/selectfam1.php

This week’s major collection includes ten new databases from Anguline Research Archives (ARA). The databases include court, land, and probate records, genealogy guides, census and voter lists, birth marriage and death records, religious records, and directories and lists. The content is from the United Kingdom, particularly from England.

Transcripts of the Manor Court Rolls for the period 1377 – 1567. Also includes a
list of the tenants and freeholders in 1443 and a list of the names of jurors for
the period 1523 – 1567. Full of interesting information with many names of people
included. This is a useful source for family historians as well as those interested
in medieval Lancashire.

This is a directory of research interests submitted by genealogists from Great Britain,
Ireland, America, Germany and other countries. It could prove useful to today’s
researchers in providing links to family lines. Also includes an index to special
lines of research and an index of surnames.

Transcripts and photographs of 76 war memorials in the West Yorkshire city of Wakefield
and its surrounding towns and villages. They include cenotaphs on roadsides, village
greens, inside churches and institutions. Fully searchable by surname. Useful for
genealogists and military historians.

Transcripts of the registers (baptisms, marriages and burials) for the Cathedral
Church of Rochester covering the period 1657 – 1837. Also contains lists of Prebendaries,
Headmasters of the Grammar School, Minor Canons and Organists, plus inscriptions
in the Cathedral and Churchyard. Complete with an index of names.

The Register of the King’s School, Rochester, Kent. Contains names of all members
of the school from 1835-1920. Also includes names of Headmasters from 1552, Second
Masters from 1599, Governors’ Exhibitioners from 1550, Gunsley Exhibitioners from
1618, etc.

More than 20 million books including digital copies of published genealogies and local histories are available at the University of Michigan’s catalog of digital books. These books are searchable and free to access. Yes, no fees and no registration.

Although the catalog contains many genealogies and histories, you can also access a variety of books, journals and portraits.

2. Give your Valentine a genealogy gift. For example, you could give your Valentine, a framed pedigree chart, a report of one of her ancestors, a picture of the two of you (either a current picture, or one when both of you were growing up.) You can also purchase a genealogy gift from The Genealogy Gifts Store.

3. Find a romantic couple that you have in our family tree. Learn more about this couple and pay tribute to them.

This week’s major collection includes ten new databases from Anguline Research Archives (ARA). The databases include court, land, and probate records, genealogy guides, census and voter lists, birth marriage and death records, religious records, and directories and lists. The content is from the United Kingdom, particularly from England.

February 11, 2009The Court Rolls of the Honor of Clitheroe in the County of Lancaster, Volume 1
Transcripts of the Manor Court Rolls for the period 1377 – 1567. Also includes a list of the tenants and freeholders in 1443 and a list of the names of jurors for the period 1523 – 1567. Full of interesting information with many names of people included. This is a useful source for family historians as well as those interested in medieval Lancashire.

Memorial Inscriptions in the Churchyard of Ratray
Transcripts of the memorial inscriptions in the churchyard. Also includes some photographs of gravestones. Complete with an index of names.

February 12, 2009The International Genealogical Dictionary
This is a directory of research interests submitted by genealogists from Great Britain, Ireland, America, Germany and other countries. It could prove useful to today’s researchers in providing links to family lines. Also includes an index to special lines of research and an index of surnames.

Cenotaphs in the Wakefield Area
Transcripts and photographs of 76 war memorials in the West Yorkshire city of Wakefield and its surrounding towns and villages. They include cenotaphs on roadsides, village greens, inside churches and institutions. Fully searchable by surname. Useful for genealogists and military historians

List of the Roman Catholics in the County of York 1604
Taken from the original manuscripts held in the Bodleian Library, with additional genealogical notes, this listing of Roman Catholic Recusants and Noncommunicants covers towns and villages all across Yorkshire. Hundreds of names are featured, together with useful family and biographical details. Includes indexes of persons and places. An excellent resource for family historians with Yorkshire Catholic ancestors.

February 16, 2009Registra Antiqua de Caerwent, 1568 – 1812
In Comitatu Monumethensi. Text in English. Transcribed from the original register books and edited by Bradney, to which is added a short account of the parishes and vicars.

February 17, 2009The Registers of the Cathedral Church of Rochester, 1657 – 1837
Transcripts of the registers (baptisms, marriages and burials) for the Cathedral Church of Rochester covering the period 1657 – 1837. Also contains lists of Prebendaries, Headmasters of the Grammar School, Minor Canons and Organists, plus inscriptions in the Cathedral and Churchyard. Complete with an index of names.

The Roffensian Register, Containing the Names of all Members of the School, 1835 – 1920
The Register of the King’s School, Rochester, Kent. Contains names of all members of the school from 1835-1920. Also includes names of Headmasters from 1552, Second Masters from 1599, Governors’ Exhibitioners from 1550, Gunsley Exhibitioners from 1618, etc.

About Anguline Research Archives (ARA)ARA was founded by Guy Etchells and Angela Petyt B.A. (hons.). ARA is an organization dedicated to offering rare books on CD at an affordable price. It caters to both local history and family history researchers. ARA is located in Ossett, England.

ARA also offers school and college registers, directories, local histories and topography, wills, study aids, and maps. Plus, it provides some rare printed resources from Medieval times up to the 20th century.

Blogs, blogs, blogs! It seems like everyone has a blog these days. In fact, based on 2008 statistics there are 133 million blogs on the Internet (as tracked by Technorati), and approximately 900,000 new blog posts are added each day. Among this proliferation of blogs are thousands on the topic of genealogy and family history. How does one keep track of all of them? Better question…how does one sift through all of the blogs to find the genealogy blogs?

Renee Zamora recently drew my attention to a website called Genealogy Blog Finder, a site that helps you do just that—find blogs about genealogy. The site is sponsored by Genelaogue.com, a site by Chris Dunham who has been documenting blogs since May 2005. Chris’s genealogy blog covers genealogy news, reviews, notes and humorous nonsense (which explains why the subtitle of his blog is: Genealogy News You Can’t Possible Use).

The Genealogy Blog Finder currently tracks more than 1,200 blogs. Once you arrive at the Genealogy Blog Finder (http://blogfinder.genealogue.com/) you can find blogs that have been recently updated. You can see the blogs that have just been added to the directory, and you can also discover the locations from where people are blogging. And that’s just the beginning of the types of searches you can perform!

Using the Genealogy Blog Finder, you can also search by genealogy news, personal research, photography, cemeteries, conferences, podcasts, famous folks, corporate, humor, community, and much more.

Another neat feature available on Genealogy Blog Finder is the ability to suggest a blog, or update a listing. If you have a genealogy blog that you think the world needs to know about, go to http://blogfinder.genealogue.com/suggest_blog.asp and add it to the site.